Category: Misc

I know that it is quite futile to expect much from local gossip, I mean, “news” stations in general, but some stuff still gets to me – like the case of a man licking a doorbell for three hours, turned into “eyewitness news” by ABC7 Los Angeles (I’m deliberately not placing a direct link here), after it was first reported by KION 5/46. How that is “eyewitness news”, or even newsworthy at all, is completely beyond me – but hey, anything to drive some clicks and get some pennies from banner ads, right? Continue reading “Ring in the Worst of the Web”→

Late in 2018, I deleted my Facebook photography page for good (for the umpteenth time I guess, and I’m at the verge of deleting my personal profile as well). Google will flick the switch on Google+ in April 2019*, I removed myself from Flickr and Instagram in 2018, August vanished into oblivion, tsu was just plain horrible, Ello never worked for me.

I joined it late, but Twitter is one of the few social media sites were I still maintain an active presence. I’m @alexskunz if you’re interested – I try to keep it “on topic” about photography, landscape, nature, plants, the environment, and things at the intersection of those. Continue reading “A new take on Twitter for 2019”→

When I was checking out at the supermarket and the cashier (a young lady) noticed my jar of tahini, she asked: “oh you’re going to make your own hummus?” to which I replied “yes, maybe” and she asked “but what else do you do with it?”

Why does YouTube always seem to insert some right-wing political bullshit into the search results and “related” videos. Like, when I look for a MUSIC video?

And why is it ALWAYS right-wing shit that I’m seeing there, no matter if I’m logged in or not? Bashing Obama, Mueller, Clinton, Democrats, etc. etc.

Why do I NEVER see anything inserted there that would be against Trump & his vile henchmen? Are “liberals” not good enough at gaming YouTube’s algorithm, or do they not pay YouTube enough to promote their content?

And why is there no “I don’t want to see this” function on YouTube, why no “I think this is fake news” to report on YouTube?

There’s a thousand tricks* to help avoid tears while chopping onions. No one says: “it’s not that bad, just pull yourself together”, even though that’s actually true. We literally take crying while chopping onions more seriously than any mental disease.

Halloween never was an issue in our old neighborhood in 4S Ranch. Two or three groups of little kids rang our doorbell in the evening, they were cute, and we gladly gave them some treats. Watchful parents made sure that the little hands of their kids wouldn’t grab too much out of our candy bowl. And I had the rest of the sweets for myself (it is an important aspect of Halloween that there’d be leftovers). 😀 Continue reading “Escape from Halloween”→

On July 1st 2017, as part of a weight-loss bet with a friend, I began to run, and have since kept up the routine of running every 2-3 days. I began to run then to help me lose weight – but in the process, I realized and remembered how good it is for me overall. I’ll try to write a little bit about what it does “and all that” here, to maybe inspire one or the other person with a similar story to try it. And I’m not just talking about weight loss (yes, I won that bet) but I’ll cover that in this first post as well. Continue reading “Running”→